What Is “Kid World,”and Why Are My Favorite Movies Set There?

“I’d followed them to the Sandlot after school. I’d never seen anyplace like it; it was like their own baseball kingdom or something. It was the greatest place I’d ever seen anyway.”

The Sandlot (1993) is set in San Fernando Valley, California in 1962, but the film exists elsewhere, in another realm entirely, in a place insulated by adventure and imagination and wonder. Everything there is a caricature—bigger, better, sexier, scarier—and everything there is possible; the film takes place somewhere between reality and hyperbole, between true stories and tall tales.

It’s a place where shoes give you supernatural powers and where you steal a kiss from the impossibly unattainable lifeguard and where your heroes speak to you in your dreams. In his memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson gives these landscapes a simple, profound name: Kid World.

To me, The Sandlot epitomizes Kid World films, movies I loved in my youth and that have evoked intense fondness and deep nostalgia on every screening since. I adore other Kid World classics, too: The Goonies (1985). Home Alone (1990). Hook (1991). The universe of these films is borne from the imagination of youngsters, and as viewers, we experience the films through their gaze.

How do filmmakers create the worlds of these movies, and what magic formula makes them so timeless and irresistible? Want to know the way to Kid World? Follow me.

1.“Legends Never Die”: Tall Tales and Folk Heroes Who Live For-Ev-Er

courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

“Remember, kid,” says the ghost of Babe Ruth, who appears to Benny in a dream. “There’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”

The Sandlot is endlessly invoking legends—characters that straddle the line between man and myth, and outsized oral histories whose validity is unverifiable, yet widely believed.

“People say [Babe Ruth] was less than a god but more than a man,” Benny explains to Smalls. “You know, like Hercules or something.”

Hercules is also the name of Mr. Mertle’s junkyard dog, better known as The Beast.

“He’s a killing machine,” Squints warns, his face eerily illuminated by a flashlight. “When Mertle asked the cops how long he had to keep The Beast chained up like a slave, he said, ‘Until for-ev-ER, for-ev-ER, for-ev-ER.’”

That’s also how long One-Eyed Willy, the notorious pirate, is destined to be bunkered in an unfindable cave, according to one of Mikey’s asthmatic monologues in The Goonies.

“One-Eyed Willy…was the most famous pirate in his time,” Mikey says, spinning a yarn about Willy’s treasure and a British armada’s attempt to reclaim it. “He got into this cave and then the British, they blew up all the walls around him and he got caved in and he’s been there ever since.”

“Forever?” offers Data.

“Forever,” Mikey confirms.

The timelessness of the characters and the stories in the films helps solidify the timelessness of the films themselves. In other words, the legends in the film perpetuate the legend that is the film. Legends, like Kid World movies, always arouse exhilaration and excitement and wonder and possibility, no matter how much time passes. It’s true both onscreen and in our lives: Legends never die.

2. “Pickle The Beast”: Thrilling Action and Epic Adventure

The Sandlot kids exhibit impressive ingenuity, persistence, and resourcefulness in their attempts to “pickle The Beast”—as in, recapture Smalls’s stepdad’s autographed Babe Ruth ball from the yard and the unrelenting clutches of the monstrous dog.

With each failed attempt to retrieve the ball, the suspense, the stakes, and the thrills multiply: Attempts using an Erector Set catapult, a kid-in-a-harness airborne tactic, and a high-powered vacuum cleaner end in screams, a tree house explosion, and ultimately, failure. It all culminates in the boys’ last-ditch effort, where legends go mono a mono: Benny laces up his PF Flyers, snags the ball from The Beast’s yard, and hops the fence back to safety—or so he thinks. Moments later, the dog clears the fence in a single bound and pursues Benny on an epic chase through town.

Adventure is a prerequisite for Kid World movies. The Goonies forge an epic treasure hunt and defeat a trio of ruthless bandits. In Hook, Pan and the Lost Boys overcome the pirates and slay their captain. Kevin (Home Alone) outfoxes the robbers and saves the day in time for Christmas.

As a kid, one of my chief concerns was escaping the mundane reality of my exceedingly ordinary life. Whether it was playing make-believe with friends, launching an early career in drama and dance, or acting out thrilling scenes with action figures, living these imaginative scenarios were a welcome departure from an all-too-cozy suburban upbringing. Living vicariously through the kid heroes in these films was another method; every obstacle they overcome and every enemy they foiled felt like a thrill and a victory for me.

Harry Potter presents a wizarding world where magic is commonplace, and X-Men is based on adolescents with bona fide superpowers. The Sandlot, meanwhile, depicts ordinary kids who, to their own surprise, occasionally do extraordinary things. Kid World blurs the lines between human and superhuman. Events don’t seem possible, but they don’t quite seem impossible; we’re faced with the possibility of possibility.

Even in a fairytale like Hook, characters are forced to confront the real versus the surreal. In the famous food fight scene, after steadfast adult-like resistance, Peter finally suspends his disbelief.

When we watch characters realities’ straddle the line between possible and not, we can’t help but (wishfully) map these experiences onto our own lives. When we watch ordinary kids do extraordinary things, we wonder (hope) to achieve the same. And as their sense of wonder grows so, too, does ours; we begin to consider the unlimited power of our own minds. That is truly amazing.

4. “Their Own Baseball Kingdom”: Kid Worlds Within Kid World

courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

The Sandlot (the movie) lives in Kid World, and The Sandlot (the place) is a Kid World inside that. These microcosms—even more intimate, more fortified from adults—are a common trope of Kid World movies.

The Goonies’ house, specifically the attic, is one example. The Lost Boys’ Neverland territory in Hook is another. I’d argue that Moonrise Kingdom (2012) isn’t actually a Kid World movie: It’s not intended for children, and we don’t totally experience the movie through the child’s gaze. But while parents (at least try to) make the rules in the film, the central location of the movie is governed by pre-teens.

“This is our land!” proclaims Sam when he and Suzy happen upon their beachside retreat.

“Yes it is!” Suzy echoes.

They jump into the water, fully clothed. She lies on the beach while he sketches her. She reads to him. He pierces her ears.

“I like it here, but I don’t like the name,” says Suzy.

“I know,” Sam agrees.

They claim and later, rename, the space. The last shot in the film reveals their chosen moniker: Moonrise Kingdom.

“[The Sandlot] was like their own baseball kingdom,” Smalls narrates. “It was the greatest place I’d ever seen anyway.”

The monarchical terminology is intentional: In these meta Kid Worlds, youngsters hold sway and live in harmony, secluded from enemies or outsiders, namely adults.

In my youth, I created a Kid World in the suburban carpetscape of my parents’ basement, a bastion of creativity and privacy and play. I made up imaginary basketball teams and played entire tournaments by myself against invisible opponents. Other times, a friend and I took on nicknames, donned costumes, and choreographed WWE-style wrestling matches using papasan chair cushions as our ring.

The kids played every summer day from dawn ’til dusk, Smalls says. “It was like an endless dream game.”

Of all the classic moments in The Sandlot, the most iconic scene is Squints’s kiss with the lifeguard-as-teenage-Aphrodite, Wendy Peffercorn.

One afternoon at the pool, Squints is driven to insanity by Wendy’s relentless “lotioning, oiling, oiling, lotioning…” from on high in her chair.

“I can’t take this no more!” Squints erupts, and splashes away. The diminutive, bespectacled non-swimmer plugs his noses and tosses himself into the deep end; a suicide mission.

When Wendy pulls Squints from the bottom of the pool and drags him, unconscious, to land, she applies frantic CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Just when it seems he may be down for the count, Squints opens his eyes and shines a mischievous smile at his friends. When Wendy goes in for more mouth-to-mouth, Squints pulls the back of her head into his face for a stolen smooch, and the Drifters’ “This Magic Moment” adds an exclamation point to the tableau.

“You little pervert!” screams Wendy, before dragging Squints out by the arm.

Sam and Suzy’s relationship in Moonrise Kingdom is brilliant in its nuance: It’s sophisticated and juvenile, sexy and awkward, exaggerated and realistic. These films mirror my most prominent sexual fantasies as an elementary schooler: making out with my camp counselor and rounding first base with my crush cloistered in—wait for it—the coatroom of our synagogue.

Watching the Wendy Peffercorn scene as an 11-year-old, when my sexual and romantic urges both began and peaked, was nearly pornographic. To this day, things have never been hotter onscreen or in real life.

6. “Uh, Bill. I Mean, Dad”: Ideal Parents and Stable Families

In The Sandlot, Dennis Leary plays Smalls’ mother’s new husband, Bill, an absolute caricature of lousy stepdad. Stern, distant, and condescending, Bill (“I mean, Dad. I mean, Bill”; Smalls can’t decide what to call him) has to be coerced by the mom into merely playing with his stepson. Their first game of catch ends in Smalls taking a baseball and, consequently, a slab of frozen meat to the face. But in the end, after a summer at The Sandlot, Smalls is proficient in the game.

Smalls zooms a ball into his glove during one of their now-regular games of catch.

courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Kid World movies don’t merely offer kids-as-heroes and coming-of-age narratives; their plots fulfill fantasies of children, specifically in regards to parents and families.

In Moonrise Kingdom, Sam, a survivor of the foster system, is adopted by the town’s endearing sheriff. In 3 Ninjas (1992), the boys save their grandpa from the hands of an evil martial arts master. In Home Alone, Kevin protects his house and gets the family Christmas of his dreams. Sure, Henry (1993’s Rookie of the Year) leads the Cubs to their first World Series victory in a century, but his biggest win is convincing his widowed mother to dump her skeezy boyfriend for the Cubs’ ace, who acted as a father figure for Henry throughout the season.

As much as Kid World movies lampoon or criticize or ignore adults, their characters ultimately yearn for a stable home, supportive parents, and a loving family. While we, as viewers, live and lived vicariously through the characters’ thrilling episodes, heroics, and romance, we really want what those kids eventually achieved: normalcy.

In childhood, we seek familial stability; in nostalgic adulthood, we seek childhood. As we age, childhood feels far away, but thanks to these timeless films, Kid World never does.

What are your favorite Kid World movies and what makes them so endearing both then and now?

Did you create your own Kid World as a child? What was it like and what did you do there?

What do you think of my Kid World criteria? What would you add or change?

Ben Kassoy

Ben Kassoy has written for the websites of Elle, GQ, Women’s Health, Teen Vogue, Glamour, Maxim, Details, and a host of others. He is also the Editor-in-chief of DoSomething.org and the coauthor of eight books.

Andrew

3 months

Another big thing that I get enjoyment out of is the nicknames. All these movies have great ones, but The Sandlot takes the cake in my opinion. As you mentioned above: “Smalls”, “Benny the Jet”, “Yeah Yeah”, “Squints”, and “Porter” to name a few.

Similar to how you took on nicknames and characters in your basement as a kid, I don’t think my friends and I ever referred to each other by our actual names when we were away from our parents. You’ll be playing with you’ve been calling “Zordon” all day and then their dad shows up to pick them up and says “Alright Collin time to head out”. And you’re thinking,”Who the hell is Collin??”

Nicknames are one of the few things that do make the transition from Kid World over to adult world. In my life David is “Rigs”, Justin is “Jet”, Kiefer is “Kiebler”, and Lyndsey is “Lyndo”. These names better express my relationship with each of these people. And in return having a nickname makes you feel accepted and it gives you a brief escape from yourself.

And don’t forget the #1 rule of nicknames: You can’t give one to yourself.

‘Til Next Time,
Scoop Yardine

Ben Kassoy

2 months

You make a great point about nicknames in The Sandlot, and it occurs to me that they play a big role in other Kid World movies, too. “3 Ninjas”: Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum. “The Goonies”: Chunk and Data. And then there’s pretty much every other Kid World sports movie, too: “Rookie of the Year”: Chet “The Rocket” Steadman. “Little Giants”: “The Icebox.” And of course The Bash Brothers in “D2″…which were later referenced in real life: the NBA’s Splash Brothers and ‘Stache Brothers as well.

Great point that these nicknames we take on in childhood carry over into adulthood. Just another way we keep parts of our childhood selves alive. Or — to your other point — another way *others* do that for us.

Ian

2 months

But I think you hit the nail on the head when talking about the possibility of possibility and desire for adventure. I love movies, I really do – but they also make real-life pretty tough to bear sometimes. Real life has such little actual romance or adventure in the moment. You are either imagining what a romantic, movie-like life would be, where you are incredibly accomplished, every conversation is thrilling and there is always a soundtrack (basically just picturing your life in montage form with music behind it – thank god for the ipod!) – or, if you are not imagining a romanticized version of life and are actually living in a moment where the closest thing to that romance is happening, you aren’t actually appreciating it or are aware of it because you are in it….

The Prestige (not a kids movie, but great for adults!) captures this want of wonder when talking about why people like magic so much. Even though we know it is fake and there is some logical explanation behind every trick, we all want to believe that there are things unseen in the world that keep it interesting. The show Heroes presented a world where people’s superpowers didn’t happen until a solar eclipse occurred, which immediately gave all of us new hope that we will get a superpower some day soon (please please please let me get time travel, fingers crossed!). Next solar eclipse is August 21st in case you are wondering and its supposed to be a big one (do eclipses have sizes?).

The reality is (literally) that all we have is the present moment – the past is nostalgic, the future is romantic – but the present is mostly mundane (self-medication anyone?!). Like let’s not forget that Steve Jobs did laundry, Einstein had to make dinner, and Benny the Jet probably developed arthritis – and all of them lived lives where music was rarely playing in the background.

Kids movies remind us how simple it is to imagine wonder in our lives, but many would probably argue that “growing up” is really just the gradual erosion of that wonder (see Hook) or a redirecting of it towards worldly things like a mansion that isn’t actually filled with awesome parties every day.

I’ll finish with this – several years ago some high school friends and I had an old-fashion sleep over at one of our places because a solid snow storm. My buddy’s place was equipped with a living room that featured huge windows, allowing us to gaze out at the falling snow in the night. It was really beautiful actually….and then one of us brought up the Nutcracker ballet and that signature song we all know for some reason. From there, we said, ‘hey, how cool would it be to go out and sit in the snow while listening to the Nutcracker song?!’

So we donned winter gear, grabbed beach chairs and a speaker and some umbrellas and went out into the driveway. The song played for about 30 seconds before we all quickly realized that what our imagination did not include was how cold it was, how wet snow is, how hard it is to hear music outside when it is windy, etc….

We tried to bring our imaginations to life like the good ol’ days, but were rudely interrupted by our senses. That being said, I still feel nostalgic about that story and the fact that we actually did it! Memory is like our own little movie studio where we can add effects, music, and purpose that reality did not or cannot provide – and kids movies and movies in general I guess are just sharing that human experience of imagination with a bunch of people.

‘The Jet’s lost a step or two over the years……………………..the Jet stole home, the Jet stole home!”

-Saturn aka EZE aka Coborg

Ben Kassoy

2 months

Such a thoughtful response as always. Thank you. I really connected to this:

“Kids movies remind us how simple it is to imagine wonder in our lives, but many would probably argue that “growing up” is really just the gradual erosion of that wonder (see Hook) or a redirecting of it towards worldly things like a mansion that isn’t actually filled with awesome parties every day.”

I think it’s interesting — and correct — that growing up often involves that erosion of wonder (great phrase). Something your Nutcracker story addresses is that, even while adulthood doesn’t provide the wonder that childhood does, we can actively seek it and create it for ourselves. Sure, it helps to live vicariously through Kid World characters, but it’s always more fun and more powerful to live vicariously through former versions of yourself.

Love this, too.

“Memory is like our own little movie studio where we can add effects, music, and purpose that reality did not or cannot provide – and kids movies and movies in general I guess are just sharing that human experience of imagination with a bunch of people.”

Lastly, I’d love to know what you thought of The Prestige. I watched it when I delirious with a fever, and all I can remember is that Hugh Jackman turned Nikola Tesla into a cat. Right?

Get ready for that big eclipse!

Matt

2 months

First of all, I feel it necessary to begin this response by acknowledging that I’m wearing my Make Believe Boys shirt (required uniform for writing responses henceforth?).

You picked quite the who’s-who of Kids World movies, but to touch on some not mentioned, I loved Little Giants, The Mighty Ducks, E.T., and Home Alone’s far superior sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The first two, as sports movies, captured a magic I never experienced but always yearned for as a kid: the love-hate relationship of underdog camaraderie. The kids from the Little Giants and the Mighty Ducks kinda hated each other, and they weren’t shy about telling each other as such. An entire pushing brawl breaks out in the Little Giants when one teammate utters to the other “oh yeah? Well you can’t come to my birthday party,” ultimately resulting in the entire team walking out of practice. When one of the best hockey players in the city, Adam Banks, is forced to join the Ducks due to the redrawing of district lines, he may as well have been radioactive. The Ducks despised him. And on top of the interpersonal turmoil, these teams were absolute garbage. The Little Giants included a kid wrapped in shipping padding, a kid who asks not to be passed the ball, and a kid who straight up tells his coach he has no interesting in even playing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeWWOdY3oto). But these teams beat the odds to win the big game. Obviously this makes for compelling storytelling and really can only happen in movies that take place in Kid World. Nevertheless, I sort of lamented that for the most part my little league teams were full of kids that mostly got alone and had a .500 record. E.T. probably warrants its own essay, but it’s narrative component most emblematic of Kid World is that of a kid who understands life better than adults without any realization of that fact. It’s the purity and innocence placed in stark contrast to the cynical opportunism of the adults. Finally, HA2 has all the strengths of Home Alone with the added plus of the city of New York.

As a kid, I sought solace in a similar kids world as you, Ben. Most of it was within the confines of my own head or with action figures. One of my favorite childhood toys was a Fisher Price video camera, and I would set up my action figures in front of it in elaborate scene set ups. I was so pissed, even as a five year old, that that thing didn’t actually record video. Occasionally I would play some make believe universe with my sister or a few friends, and as I got older I would convince my friends to work on movies in my basement with me — though it was very clear looking back on it that I took it way more serious them.

One thing that I think is important in the Kid World canon is the idea that Kid World was not limited to our entertainment or the games we’d play. We tried desperately to make it our real lives. We had neighborhood myths and legends (there was one about a house near ours that we all had heard that the family living there had a pet pot-bellied pig that was over 100 years old). We had the scary neighbors no one knew anything about, so stories flew around ranging from the believable to the realistic. I so identify with Smalls from The Sandlot because from my own childhood experience, before I ever even saw the film, I was always the kid who had to be told these legendary stories of the neighborhood. I spent my childhood in a constant state of feeling like every kid I met had knowledge I didn’t. In some ways, I feel like I’ve never really out grown that. Then again, in some ways you could say my that making my living/dedicating myself to storytelling is also an indicator that I haven’t out grown it, which is probably a more positive way of looking at it.

Ben Kassoy

2 months

1. Make Believe Boys shirt: not required but strongly recommended. (Pants still optional.)

2. Yes, I also love the trope of the hodgepodge team that begin as dysfunctional losers and emerge and cohesive champions. Pretty much all these sports movies employ that narrative: The Mighty Ducks, Angels in the Outfield, The Little Giants, The Big Green, etc. I think lots of these movies are making a statement about diversity and the American ideal of people from different backgrounds coming together to win. It’s awesome, though a little problematic these days looking back on some of the cultural tokenization they use.

3. “E.T. probably warrants its own essay, but it’s narrative component most emblematic of Kid World is that of a kid who understands life better than adults without any realization of that fact. It’s the purity and innocence placed in stark contrast to the cynical opportunism of the adults.”

Great point (and well written) about E.T.! You’re spot on, and I definitely need to re-watch that one.

4. Action figures, yes! Great example of another way we created Kid Worlds for ourselves. Also: “I was so pissed, even as a five year old, that that thing didn’t actually record video” — so entertaining and so not surprising, considering everything I know about you now.

5. Yes! Those neighborhood stories, both in movies and in real life are so full of wonder and possibility and awe. Seems like The Sandlot’s Mr. Myrtle is that film’s Boo Radley, and I’m sure there are tons of other examples in movies…and countless ones in countless neighborhoods in real life.

Justin

2 months

I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never watched The Sandlot from beginning to end. Any other movie, Ben, and I would’ve been right there with you. Unfortunately I missed the boat on this one. However, I like to think that I have enough of an arsenal of kid world classics, between the others that you mentioned (The Mighty Ducks, Hook, Little Giants), and of course the vast assortment of Disney Channel Original Movies that I would consider my own Kid World playground. Or maybe those were more of the teen world realm, in which angsty teenagers spend more time trying to find themselves than enjoying the whimsical lives they lead.

For some reason I have this memory of 6 year old Justin acting out a scene from Hocus Pocus. At the very beginning of the movie, a boy is running through the forest, trips on a branch, and tumbles down a huge hill until he lands on the doorstep of the witches’ cabin. My memory is a little foggy regarding what happens to the kid at this point (I think he gets seduced into some sort of spell in which Bette Midler [I had no idea that ginger witch was played by Bette Midler until this moment] inhales his soul). The rest of the movie aside, that scene stuck, my friends and I would take turns taking a spill down the hill, each of us adding our own flair and creativity. Why that scene? No idea, but in kid world you don’t need reasons.

On a side note, I saw Hans Zimmer perform with his orchestra last night. Would love a piece about the music from movies. I’ll save the rest of my comments for that.

Ben Kassoy

2 months

It goes without saying, but I’d highly recommend checking out “The Sandlot” when you have the chance — Kid World movies are still amazing, even after we’re kids.

That “Hocus Pocus” story is hilarious, and that movie is officially on my list. I’ve never seen it, but I know it’s a real classic for lots of folks our age. Interestingly, the fact that Bette Midler is in it is the *only* thing I know about it, so there you go.

Hans! Legendary. Definitely need to hear about your experience there, both for my personal enjoyment and potential fodder for, as you suggested, another piece.